Draft beer is typically provided in beer kegs, with the kegs having a typical volume in the range of 15.5 gallons. However, it has been difficult, if not impossible, heretofore, to ensure proper handling of draft beer kegs to ensure quality of the beer. Temperature, age and light are the highest risk factors that affect quality of draft beer. The lack of an ability to provide quality control and monitoring produces an economic loss to the owner. Estimates indicate that the lack of control over handling results in a 4-7%, or even more, reduction in sales. Poor handling includes exposure to even moderate heat as well as excessive time in storage, even storage which is temperature controlled. Further, even with refrigerated trains and trucks, there is no automated system to ensure overall proper handling of the individual kegs. While most kegs do a suitable job for protecting beer from the effects of light, other factors such as temperatures to which the keg has been exposed and age of the beer significantly affect the quality of the beer over its lifetime in a keg.
Once a filled beer keg leaves the producer, i.e. the brewer, there is no reliable way for the brewer to know the conditions the keg encounters, or whether it was ever subjected to conditions which could affect quality. Further, there is no verification of the travel of the individual beer keg and no knowledge of the location of a keg. Typically, many kegs go missing, and are never returned to the source. It has been estimated that in excess of 20 million kegs are used each year with 500,00 kegs lost and 100 million dollars in economic loss.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a monitoring system which can correct one or more of the disadvantages encountered by beer kegs during use thereof.